One of the protesters – “lorry surfers” – on vehicles near Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site, 28 July 2017. Photo: Gathering Place Films
A haulage company, which was making a delivery to Cuadrilla’s shale gas site near Blackpool, has confirmed it is cutting its ties with the industry after its lorry was delayed by protests for more than three days.
An anti-fracking campaigner climbed onto the cab of an L & M Transport lorry at about 11am on Tuesday and stayed there until 4.30pm yesterday (28 July 2017). The campaigner came down and was arrested after the company released a public statement.
The company said:
“As many of you involved with L & M Transport know we have been drawn into a situation this week that is out with our control.
“We unknowingly took on to deliver a load to the northwest of England which turned out to be supplies for the fracking industry company Cuadrilla. Since early Tuesday we have had protestors restricting our access to the delivery point and have had a “surfer” on the roof of our truck.
“This load was undertaken through a 3rd party and If we had know this delivery was for the company Cuadrilla and to be used in the questionable fracking industry we quite simply would not have become involved.
“We can state that we will never knowingly work for Cuadrilla or any agents involved with Cuadrilla or the fracking industry again.”
DrillOrDrop understands that the load was not delivered to the Preston New Site.
Another protester who had climbed on to a separate lorry at 8am on Tuesday came down at 8pm last night (Friday 29 July). A third “lorry surfer” who began his protest at 6am on Wednesday is still there 78 hours later.
Jay Lamb, from Reclaim the Power, which has been coordinating protests outside the Preston New Road said:
“The incredible efforts of the truck surfers to continue their protest for over 72 hours shows two things.
“Firstly, direct action plays a crucial role in stopping fracking, causing yet another company to pull out of supplying Cuadrilla today.
“Secondly, protesters are becoming more determined than ever to stop fracking. The resistance to fracking is growing and shows no sign of slowing down”.
Earlier this week, Cuadrilla’s chief executive, Francis Egan, said in a statement:
“No responsible person can claim this is peaceful or lawful protest when it is causing delay and misery to local commuters, businesses and people visiting the area during the holiday season.
“Far from boasting online about their illegal exploits, the national activists from Reclaim The Power should publicly apologise to all those road users that they continue to inconvenience due to their self-serving, publicity seeking and foolish actions.”
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Cuadrilla delivered its drilling rig, in breach of planning conditions.
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Well done to that haulage contractor (L&M?), to the lorry surfers, and all protesters. As for Francis Egan (Cuadrilla’s) response – how do you know that a large percentage of those local commuters, businesses and holiday makers don’t also oppose you, Cuadrilla and fracking, and support the protests?
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Just a couple of posts to Illustrate the complications of the climate change debate. The Lake District (my favourite place in the whole world) was recently awarded World Heritage Site status, up there with places like the Taj Mahal. But George Mombiot, green activist, has described this as a disgrace since the Lake District is a “sheep wrecked” landscape cleared from it’s forested state by sheep grazing. I guess the forest would have made a much better carbon sink than pasture. So even if it’s green it’s not necessarily “green”.
I did think I should mischievously suggest the Cuadrilla protesters should turn their attentions to “sheep surfing” but that would be cruel.
Just to note the recent study from “Nature Communications” (prestigious journal) regarding world vegetation adaptations to increased atmospheric CO2. It is well known from NASA data that the world has a much larger “canopy leaf area index” since 1982 possibly due to the fertilising effect of higher CO2 (whatever the negative effects). In other words the world is literally getting greener. The article finds that this change has not been accompanied by a proportional increase in water use (very important in many countries of course). It seems that vegetation may be adapting to higher CO2 by increasing carbon uptake per unit of water.
Having been at the site for a few days, I was overwhelmed by the support for the campaign from local people and businesses. The only ‘misery’ is at the prospect of fracking being imposed against the clear, cogent and democratically expressed will of the community.
There was a great deal of support from motorists when passing the truck surfers ..Egan seems to keep forgetting that Lancashire said NO . It defies belief that he talks about considering others after what Cuadrilla and the government are putting people through . And all for GREED
Unless I am mistaken the company is saying they would not have taken the contract from the “questionable” fracking company had they known. Perhaps Cuadrilla and their associates need to make it perfectly clear to contractors that the client and site is a fracking company.
KatT
I think you are right. The haulier needs to know who the customer is, given the issues around that site.
I see that they found the industry questionable, not the company.
Because fracking is seens as a seriously toxic business, Cuadrilla are using agents to get subcontractors to deliver equipment and supplies. Most of these companies wouldn’t touch Cuadrilla with a barge pole if directly approached.
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Well said, Ry. Cuadrilla’s attempt to reduce everything to the numbers game is self-defeating as the majority does not express itself on the issue – sadly. Such behaviour simply underlines the paucity and poverty of their arguments.
Speaking of poverty, David CJ, your campaign supports fuel poverty. Protesting so that thousands can die does not seem like a worthwhile avocation to me. Energy is expensive enough without your group burdening the market with artificial costs. You help to deny those who struggle to heat their homes in the winter inexpensive onshore gas and instead offer more expensive and environmentally harmful imported gas, or very expensive renewables. Your self-indulgent protests are literally killing innocent people.
So if we are all anti fuel poverty (and of course we all are) why would any sane person (without a vested interest) want to extract UK gas that is more expensive than gas from other sources? Hmmmmm.
Refraction
Indeed, we are all anti fuel poverty as far as we know. But we do not yet know if shale gas will be cheaper ( both immediately and in the long run) or more expensive in the U.K I know it has been well discussed on these pages. Presumably if cheaper it sells, if more expensive, it will not.
So we will only be able to do a sanity check once we are producing?
Can you tell me why the gas extracted in the UK should be more expensive than in the US? I know a number of good reasons why it should be cheaper to extract in the UK than the US! ;o)
UKOOG seem to think it may be up to 3 times more expensive in the UK than in the USA.
If you really do know “a number of good reasons why it should be cheaper to extract in the UK than the US” you should share them with us here.
No answer Peeny? thought not 😉
Because my friend, here in Lancashire the local resistance and their guests are costing Cuadrilla and their corrupt facilitators an absolute fortune!
Simple!
You know why it will be more expensive here fibs. How disingenuous. Reckon you have a vested interest in seeing that others don’t know why, and you’re just checking. Would you like me to spell it out?
Fibonacci009,
If you were living in the UK instead of the USA, you would be aware that it has already been established, that the cost of energy for the individual consumer as a result of fracking would most likely be reduced by whopping ….. big fat ZERO .
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Nope, Jack. The UK, like most countries, has benefited enormously from the success of low cost fracking in the US and elsewhere, but the costs of shipping and piping the gas means that it can be even cheaper for the UK to source gas domestically. You just gotta get a little logic my boy!
EXPERTS AGREE ….. fracking won’t cut UK energy bills, ad watchdog rules
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/20/experts-agree-fracking-wont-cut-energy-bills-ad-watchdog-rules/amp/
And experts agree that fracking will certainly yield less expensive electricity prices than wind and solar!
Which experts? The expert OG lobbyists?
Most likely they are experts whose views are based on empirical data rather than the fairy dust which occupies your experts.
Definition of an expert:
Ex is a has been.
And a spert is a drip under pressure.
Lord Browne: fracking will NOT reduce UK gas prices
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/29/browne-fracking-not-reduce-uk-gas-prices-shale-energy-bills
But it will impact differentials, Jackthelad!
Did you actually read the article Jack. A quote from it…. “without gas the transition to a zero-carbon energy system would never happen” so he clearly isn’t anti natural gas. Actually it’s a 2013 paper so may be out of date) but Lord Browne says (assumes) that shale gas will make a very small contribution to a huge Europe wide gas supply system and, as a very small producer, of course won’t effect price.
Not sure if this is the same thing as saying UK shale will be uneconomic, it depends on how much there is and the production rate. Basically I’d be surprised if Cuadrilla can’t extract gas cheaper and more safely than the North Sea when all they have to do is drill and drop (there’s a song there somewhere) the output into a national pipeline half a mile away. For comparison a 200 barrel a day onshore oil well is usually considered profitable in the UK but would be laughable in the N Sea.
YES I did read what Lord Browne said before he jumped of the Caudrilla sinking ship.
( He clearly could not see a lucrative future there. )
Let’s look at what he said, quote, “We are part of a well-connected European gas market and, unless it is a gigantic amounts of gas, it is not going to have material impact on price,”
Could he be saying, unless it’s gas finds on the scale of Russia, it will have little impact on wholesale gas prices.
If that much gas is found in our densely populated country, to extract such neaningfull amounts , you would then have to convince a highly sceptical public to allow THOUSANDS of frack pads to sit right on their doorsteps.
DO YOU HONESTLY, in your wildest dreams think that will ever happen ???
Lord Browne also said, quote, ” describing the fact that more state subsidies are given to oil and gas than to renewable energy as “like running both the heating and the air conditioning at the same time.”
COULD THIS MAN now be seeing the potential of wind and solar energy ???
Lord Browne also talks about our connections to the European gas market..
Let me put this one to you all. The price of crude Oil has been reaching record lows and has stayed low for a number of years . It’s almost one third of its peak price in of $147 a barrel in 2008.
BUT HAVE YOU THE ORDINARY CONSUMERS seen a great drop in pump prices ….. NO
Unlike other countries, we are still paying some of the highest fuel prices at the pump . ( Diesel £ 1.17 a litre )
DO you think big gas finds in the UK will reduce your individual gas bills ????
I would like to hear some other opinions on that .
[Typo corrected at poster’s request]
Sorry for some of the above spelling errors.
Predictive text and micro keyboards are causing some major headaches when typing .
Speaking of poverty Fibber, your industry supports fuel poverty. Polluting so that thousands can die does not seem like a worthwhile avocation to me. Energy is not expensive if new technology is employed, it is centralised corporations that hike the price, and hence the profit margins up, Your private corporations are burdening the planet with artificial costs and turning it into a wasteland.
You help to deny those who struggle to heat their homes in the winter from environmentally safe energy production and instead offer more expensive centralised profit induced environmentally harmful fracked gas, rather than invest in less expensive and environmentally less harmful renewables. Your self-indulgent fracking profiteering is literally killing innocent people.
Sorry Safety (hope you don’t mind me using your first name) but what renewables are there at the moment on a freezing windless night in February? Only hydro and the Drax wood chip plant, in other words, almost nothing. The future of renewables is completely dependent on the development of cheap battery technology which is nowhere near ready to take the reins, so are you betting our energy security on an electric powered pig in a poke.
Please be aware of the fact that the gas system in the UK carries three times the energy of the electricity system, (from a Head of the National Grid to House of Lords committee) so in order to replace the gas central heating systems in 80% of households now using them with electricity (plus the new electricity for transport) would require a massive increase in electricity production. From weather dependent renewables? Impossible.
Think about it, even at the moment, subtract the amount of available renewables on a freezing windless early evening in February from the total UK demand (currently about 55Gw) and that’s the backup required, from whatever source, batteries, fossil fuels, reduced demand etc.
The issues are balancing the three factors (known as the energy trilemma).. environmental sustainability, affordability, and security of supply.
Even John Browne ( someone called Blair made him a Lord ) said that shale gas wouldn’t bring prices down . This paragon left Cuadrilla to work for a Russian billionaire, if this was fiction , no one would believe it. Even if it did lower prices it still dosnt justify doing something inherently unsafe. The DWP sanctions do the government’s work on the poor .
Inherently unsafe? Fracking has been taking place for over a half century, millions of wells have been fracked, and you are still looking for proof that fracking causes any kind of systemic harm. It is far safer than many other industrial activities.
Anyone know where L & M are based? I would like to send them a thank you message for their support.
Perhaps L & M will send you (Anne) the invoice for 3 trucks x 3 days? Makes sense? After all, why should Cuadrilla pay them?
Indeed, because they can probably expect a fine for breaching planning conditions. Maybe the haulage company should have been informed who they were delivering to!
Just need to find a haulier who has a loan outstanding with Barclays! Simples.
L&M Transport, Respect.
It takes guts for a company to make a stand, too.
It is so rare nowadays.
L and M are legend and will be celebrated on our wall of Honour when the Fylde is safe and the Frackers screwed!
“What do I do? Whatever I want, within the Law. You would be surprised about my business success. I closed my company and retired in my early 50s. How about you, what do you do? Apart from the obvious?”
Peter – still waiting for your response?
Well, Jack, it already has. Shame the gas came from USA, across the Atlantic in a great big ship.
I think you will find there were a lot of quotations about the economics of fracking in 2013 which have been proven to be fake news, or speculation, or both.
Centrica putting out ‘fake news’ to shoot themselves in the foot???????
In a 2013 submission to Parliament, Bloomberg said it would cost between 47 and 81 pence per therm to extract shale gas in Europe (using USD-to-GBP conversion rates).
The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies said in its 2010 report “Can Unconventional Gas be a Game Changer in European Markets” that shale extraction would likely be even more expensive, costing between 49 and 102 pence per therm.
EY, in its 2013 report “Shale Gas in Europe: Revolution or evolution?”, went further still, saying it would cost between 53 and 79 pence per therm.
And Centrica, which backs UK fracking firm Cuadrilla, said it would cost at the very least 46 pence per therm to frack, according to stats referenced in this 2012 EU report.
In each of these scenarios, the price of fracking is (much) greater than the price of gas.
The hypocrite pro frackers who import consumer goods for their own gain but don’t want to import gas from Norway are detached from reality.
The hypocrite pro frackers who import consumer goods for their own gain but don’t want to import gas from Norway are detached from reality.
????
Is Norway part of the UK now?
Well Mr Egan, will you apologise for deliberately breaching the Traffic Management Plan and claiming you had consulted with they Police to do so when in fact you had merely informed them of your plan. You need to learn honesty if you ever hope to win anyone’s trust, all you do by your actions is alienate more and more people .
No. Now go and do more protesting if you like.
How much did it cost to produce oil from fracking in USA in 2013, and how much does it cost now John?
You really are using historic speculation to justify tomorrows market, when today’s prices show that is absolute nonsense. But, that is a good summary of the confusion that exists.
Absolutely nothing to worry about, is there John? Even if large quantities of gas are discovered there will be no industry and everyone will pack up and go away rapidly. Strange how many other antis are not convinced, and if you can’t even convince them it may be a bit more difficult with those running without blinkers.
Current factual statistics from our mighty, secure, home grown North Sea Oil and Gas Industry 2017
The impressive pace of cost improvement and strong production performance on the UKCS have meant that
unit operating costs (UOCs) have fallen by 37 per cent in pound terms and 48 per cent in dollar terms13 from
$29.70/boe (£18/boe) in 2014 to around $15.30/boe (£11.30/boe) in 2016.
Click to access Business-Outlook-2017-Oil-Gas-UK.pdf
Decommissioning costs to be paid regardless.
Current operating costs of US shale 2017
But for the first time since 2012, shale producers will see a rise in break-even production costs this year, according to data from Rystad Energy, which surveys producers. The per-barrel costs will rise an average of $1.60 across the shale patch to $36.50.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil-cost-analysis-idUSKBN15W1O
No wonder North sea is recovering and output has risen for the last 2 years.
Plenty to go at and an experienced home grown workforce of over 400,000
UK shale, expensive, dangerous, and a fools choice in today’s energy market.
Click to access OGA_production_projections_-_February_2016.pdf
Still having problems with graphs John?
And
Click to access oga-production-projections-february-2017.pdf
Yet you don’t seem to mention the environmental costs to us all? Obviously no concern to you, lemmings, who have no care for the world if there is money to be made.
Misconceptions
Misconceptions about lemmings go back many centuries. In the 1530s, geographer Zeigler of Strasbourg proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather[5] and then died suddenly when the grass grew in spring.[6] This description was contradicted by natural historian Ole Worm who accepted that lemmings could fall out of the sky, but claimed that they had been brought over by the wind rather than created by spontaneous generation. Worm first published dissections of a lemming, which showed that they are anatomically similar to most other rodents such as voles and hamsters, and the work of Carl Linnaeus proved that they had a natural origin.
Lemmings have become the subject of a widely popular misconception that they commit mass suicide when they migrate by jumping off cliffs. It is in fact not a mass suicide but the result of their migratory behavior. Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. They can swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat. In such cases, many may drown if the body of water is so wide as to stretch their physical capabilities to the limit. This fact and the unexplained fluctuations in the population of Norwegian lemmings gave rise to the misconception.[7]
[Image removed over possible copyright issues]
Actually, the misconception about lemmings committing mass suicide came from a Disney movie; apparently the film crew chased the poor darlings over the cliff edge for entertainment purposes…..bit like pro-fracking comments 🙂
Being a lemming is perhaps a state of mind, anyone who is drawn to one apparently seductive obsession, whilst ignoring any pitfalls. Its the Hegelian dialectic in operation. Create a problem, orchestrate a reaction, then impose an apparent solution, which was actually the intension in the first place before the problem was created but never declared. That will involve people being drawn deeper into the trap.
The modern illusions are money, banking and politics which are superseding religion in cultish zeal. Science is not far behind, anything which appears to supply ready made answers for those too lazy, or too scared to look reality full in the face.
Then of course their are the priests and acolytes, they know its all myth and illusion, but it fills their rice bowls and gives them power over others to fill more. So they jealously protect and spread the illusion with religious zeal and force. Intrinsic and deep within those is the o$€£&g imperative which has greater resources than many whole countries, but no social responsibility for anyone but profit to themselves and shareholders. The ideal money factory. The use of all these together creates an obscuring miasma, an illusion of certainty and stability, when in actual fact, its just another trap for the unwary. The problem with mind games such as these, they become self sustaining and take on a life of their own. Like a virus or a cancer they end up consuming the host, consequences are no longer considered, only the imperative to preserve the cult at all costs.
You can always tell a cult when questioning any aspect of it draws derision, fury and zealotry close to Spanish Inquisition dimensions.
Just look at these pages for that.
For once I agree with you (or perhaps this is a second time?) – the anti fracking cult is close to the Spanish Inquisition…..
Only in so far as we keep doing the unexpected and catching Cuadrilla on the back foot Paul 😉
Awww sweet! You boys will play your little mind games wont you? Paul Tesco/hewes62/?/?.
I sincerely hope the only association any of us experience with burning and stakes, or steaks, happens at a barbecue, which incidentally is in Spanish “barbacoa” meaning a fire of stacked sticks? No one expects the Spanish Barbacoa!
Or is that what these razor wire fema cages are for? Enormous gas fired barbecues for the illuminati saturnalia cult?